Chapter 2- New isn't Always Bad

"All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward." -Ellen Glasgow

It was all a blur, just one big blur.

She blames it on her tired body losing itself to the glory of unconsciousness.

It might have been a good thing; really, with her body fully at rest her spark and processor would be more likely to sync together in motivations. It always helped her to focus on the now, rather than the what was to come, recharge always managed to keep her grounded.

However, it felt that every instance in which she allowed herself a recharge, she awoke to something being different than it was when she laid herself down for a rest. She knows it is unhealthy to go for long periods without allowing your body a chance to idol and recalibrate itself, but deep down something always stopped her from doing it.

Maybe it was because of now.

Her optics came online as her systems informed her that all of her parts were ready to be used at their maximum efficiency. That she was running on energon that was better than anything it has ingested in a long time, and that all of her plating issues had been worked out and she was able to move without any painful protoform burn.

Though, when she awoke, she indeed found herself in the same small base she remembered. Though, the young mech with no voice, Bumblebee was nowhere to be seen. The medic, Ratchet, was gone from her sights as well, and it made her feel rather uncomfortable.

Maybe it was her deeply rooted fear of change.

Maybe it was her paranoia acting out again.

She had no idea, but those feelings of loneliness and fear began to creep into her conscious and awake mind, and they felt so intense since she was able to recharge. It was tugging at her spark, which began to shrink itself into its chamber that was barley protected by chassie armor.

She and the other carriers did not really have tough outer armor like the warriors did, as it was deemed unnecessary. The general consensus on Cybertron was that carriers would be highly protected at all times, and were in no immediate danger of attack or annihilation.

She always had to remind herself, not all carriers were child rearers.

This caste was one of the most fragile and unfair of most, it could promise great care and love, or it could promise great pain and uselessness. The Child Rearers were considered an upper class caste; at least, the carriers with the best genetics and the best sparkling skills, the rest were treated as disposable garbage, much like the unit she was placed in.

Still, despite being considered the most wasted space of all the carriers, her unit found itself protected once the war began to rage on Cybertron. The neutrals, the ones who promised most protection to them, guaranteed their safety. When she was finally bold enough to ask why, their answer was very simple; because no one was stupid enough to kill off the only production abilities the Cybertronians had.

It made sense, in a weird way. Her facility was located outside of Kaon City, and was in a rather protected area behind a great wall that disconnected her caste from the others around them. The neutrals would be protected here, and they could care for the carriers as well, ensuring that after this petty war was complete they would come out heroes.

Praise for saving so many of the carriers, for protecting what they believed in with much strength and courage. It was a guarantee to elevation to higher status, and so the neutrals cared for them, as best they could. She appreciated it, really, as they did their best. It was a doomed effort from the start, as the war continued to grow more and more as the cycles flew by.

She remembered, when the news that the All-spark was missing from Cybertron, that there would be no more production of Energon or Protoforms… she remembered… There was much argument from the neutrals as to their fate. Most of their protectors picked a side of Autobot or Decepticon, and the neutral party grew smaller and smaller. It appeared that they decided the need for child rearers became less of a need… and more of a liability.

The walls around her facility fell, and many had found their fate when a clash of the two sides waged itself right inside of the building. She could recall fire, explosions, and the feeling of her entire world falling around her. Rivulets, her only friend in a world of nothing but a painful existence mixed with a few happy moments, took her and fled from the scene without much warning.

There was so much change after that… so much.

Those feelings creeped up onto her again, as she felt her spark tighten and her processor stall, it was a really uncomfortable feeling. Her servos began to shake as she placed them together and held them close to her spark chamber. She wanted to tell them both it would be ok, but she couldn't find the hope or honesty in herself to say those things, even to herself.

If that even makes any sense.

She looked around as she sat up, scanning the room around her. She was in the same berth, located in the same corner by the big machine she was surprised she did not notice before. She has seen it before in many Medical offices, she had no idea what they were called, but she knows they had many uses.

She heard no movement, and she saw no shadows.

It was a little scary to think she was completely alone in a new place without so much as a warning as to where every bot might have gone. She did not truly know them, and she did not truly know Bumblebee, but she has learned over the Vorns that sometimes it is a good thing to not know everything about someone.

It was then she heard the small beeps, it sounded like someone working on a keyboard. The beeps were soft and quiet, almost undetectable to someone who was not trained to hear and notice small noises such as that. It was both a blessing and a curse, to notice small details that could or could not mean something.

As the sound continued, she felt her curiosity programming begin to kick in, and she found herself wanting to know who seemed to be the only other bot in the entire facility. As before, at least by her delirious account, there were at least five bots in this place. Though, she has been known to be wrong before, and she can't trust anything her optics sees sometimes. The old saying goes that the optics can be tricked so easily.

Her processor was telling her to stay put, pretend to be in recharge, let them reveal their plans to her when they were ready to. Her spark disagreed, and said investigate; find out where you are and how to proceed from the information she finds. Back to the old game of whom she should listen to, and she felt herself grow weary with each argument they threw at her.

Do other bots have this issue? Rivulets said they do, but she doubted it was as strong as her pulls.

Before she had more time to argue with herself, she saw movement coming from the big console in the center of the room. The figure just simply walked back and forth, grabbing and setting various tools and parts up and down with purpose in each movement.

It was the Medic, Ratchet.

She went with her spark, as standing around did absolutely nothing for her at this moment, and she absolutely hated feeling like she had no purpose in a facility. She was breed to be productive, to care for others, and she can't accomplish that by simply standing and observing.

She clenched her armor close to her protoform, almost painfully so, as she began to walk slowly away from the small comfort of the berth that she has claimed as her own. It was a big step for her, as she was always taught, violently, to never push or over step the boundaries put in place for someone like her.

She made it all the way to the Autobot symbol on the floor before she stopped to observe her new surroundings. There were a lot of control panels and consoles, with technology that looked fairly simple and not something she had ever seen on Cybertron before. What really caught her attention though was the small seating area with a few scattered baubles about on a catwalk near the big consol.

It was way too small for even a Sparkling to enjoy, and it seemed like it was so out of place compared to everything this base seemed to represent. She felt the vibe of seriousness in the air, the drive to both survive and thrive in a less than habitable environment for their species.

She had no idea where they were, if they were on a planet somewhere, or if they were just floating about in a small space station somewhere. The bots earlier said she crash landed, so she was assuming they were on another planet somewhere, which made her a little sad.

She had no idea how far away she was from Cybertron.

Her home, the very one ravaged by civil war and anger over the dishonesty amongst those whom were in charge of the major decisions that would affect everyone on the planet. It made sense, as it was the way of progression, as peace was never something that lasted for a long period of time. Even someone like her understood that, she just wished that it was something that did not happen in her life span… something that she would never have to see or experience.

"Ah, good, you're up." She heard Ratchet say, as he was busy working on the wiring of a control panel.

She said nothing as she just simply looked up to his much larger frame a ways away from her. He was an older mech, someone who had much experience and confidence in what he did, as he carried himself high. Shoulders up, hard focus on the task at hand, and not needing to turn around to look at some bot to know they were listening to his words.

He reminded her of the protoform specialists on Cybertron, the ones who held no doubt in their skills and understanding of how to do what they needed to do. Ratchet seemed to know what she needed earlier, with the energon, and it raised the question in her mind of how he knew what it was she needed without having to be told.

Sparkling and Carrier care was a highly special trade on their home world, and required a lot of schooling and training. It was a high honor amongst the health care community, or at least, that is what all of her care givers told her whenever she was courageous enough to ask.

"I wanted to ask you a few questions, if you are comfortable enough to answer them." Ratchet continued, as he placed the tools he was using down and retrieved the data pad he had stored away in his subspace compartment.

She said nothing as she took a few steps forward, and allowed her plating to relax a little to relieve the soreness of her protoform. The medic, Ratchet, has made no indication he means her harm. Her survival programing began to shut down, slowly, which made her feel a little bit relieved.

"S-sure" She began "If I can answer it…"

"Good, when was your last upgrade?" He asked as he began to type something on his data pad.

"Physical? Or?" She asked as she lifted up her helm to meet his gaze.

He held no hostility or judgement in his faceplate, and she could not read any malice or ill intent in his optics. She felt her plating completely relax as she held her servos together to her chest. Maybe… maybe she could trust this mech as well.

"Any upgrades you can remember would be helpful." He said as he turned all his attention back onto his patient.

She spoke slowly, and with reason, as she described the last upgrade she had was physical. It was right before the war began to break out around her and her facility. She got a basic upgrade for someone her age; it was enough for her protoform to continue to grow into until she would get her final plating when she reached full maturity. She still wasn't at her full maturity, and she figured he already knew that much about her form.

She also decided to add that the last processor upgrade was when she became a youngling, when the medics installed her virus protection software and fire walls to keep her safe from any outside tampering someone might want to perform. It was a basic upgrade that every Cybertronian had, but she mentioned it anyway just in case she might be missing some important processor part.

It would explain why her processor differed so much from her spark.

"That is good, at least, are your nanites fully functional?" He asked as he began to make notes on the data pad of the information se was giving him.

He had no reason to believe she is lying, and he noticed that maybe she was finally starting to warm up to him. That was good, because now maybe he can prod her for more information about where she is from and how she ended up on that crash course escape pod.

"They should be, at least, my personal diagnostics say so." She said as she gently tapped her chassie to symbolize that she thought they were fully operational. "Both protoform and colorant are running at optimal levels."

She watched a little as she slightly scratched her chassie light enough to watch the nanites react immediately and begin to repair the small damage done to her outer frame. She watched as the small white streak turned back into one of a dull pink.

"All that is left than, it appears, is a few updates to your firewall and virus protection." Ratchet said as he continued to type out things on his data pad.

"Right now?" She asked as she pressed her plating back against her protoform tightly. She was not really in a mood to hook up to a machine and have the mech dig around inside her processor. It was a scary enough concept to have any bot do it, let alone a stranger she had just met.

"It would be easier to get it out of the way now-" Before he could finish, an alarm began to sound and she froze in place as her optics began to scan the are quickly while trying to make herself involuntarily seem much smaller than she really was.

"Don't worry" Ratchet began as he cut the alarm short "It's just the proximity alarm. Optimus is back from his patrol"

She stood up a little straighter as the sound stopped, but she felt more comfortable once she had backed up enough to be wedged in between a wall and some crates that were located nearby. She watched as a big vehicle came driving in slowly from a nearby corridor. Once it was parked, it transformed into the tall mech from before, the one who was their leader.

He took a moment to take in his base, as he might have felt something was a little different from usual, and his optics spotted her hiding behind the crates that held a few of Ratchet's extra tools. He let his face plate relax as he tried to make himself look as least threatening as someone of his size and stature could.

Bumblebee shared with him that this little carrier femme, this Dulcet, responds better to physical signals than anything else. It made sense in a way, as she seemed to be a very skittish and small youngling. She was in that in between age, just like Bumblebee, not fully matured but not exactly a youngling.

She leaned out of her spot a little bit to see what he was up to, which was a good sign to the Prime. He had confidence that she will eventually become comfortable enough here to walk around freely without jumping at any little noise that would occur at any given time.

"How was patrol, Optimus?" Ratchet asked as he placed his data pad back into his subspace compartment.

"Nothing to report, old friend, and the Decepticon activity has slowed drastically." Optimus responded as he walked closer to Ratchet, fully aware that the femme was watching him with a very intense gaze. "Where are the others?"

"I sent them away before Dulcet would awake. I didn't want them to scare her; she would have not come out otherwise." Ratchet said as he picked up the tools from before and began to work on the control panel before she entered the room.

"Well done, Ratchet." Optimus said as he turned towards the small femme, who jumped back behind the crates a little as he turned suddenly.

"Move slowly, and try to speak softly." Ratchet whispered as he saw from the corner of his optics that she jumped away.

"Understood." Optimus whispered back as he held out his servo fully in front of him, as he took slow and purposeful steps towards her hiding spot.

Once she noticed, she felt herself try and be as small as possible, which wasn't hard when once compared her to someone like Optimus. She would barley reach above the length of his leg, as she was meant to be as small and compact as possible. It was easier to keep control over carriers that way, when they were smaller and weaker than other Cybertronians.

Once he was close enough, Optimus crouched down on one knee, and began to emit the low engine rumble from before, a sound of sheer comfort and understanding as he just stared at her patiently with his servo out and a small smile on his face plate. The sound was enough to draw her out and look up at the bigger mech. She reciprocated the sound softly, as she took a few steps forward to place her much smaller servo into his.

She retracted quickly, as she made contact with him, but when he did nothing but be still and continue his look of patience and sounds of comfort. She slowly placed her servo in his, fully this time, as she looked up at him with optics full of confusion and fear. It was normal; at least it has always been, for carriers to be a little weary of unknown bots coming into their established place of residence.

He knew that carriers were very protective creatures, especially if they had already been sparked; their programming was more likely to kick in and make them somewhat feral. They were hard wired that way, in case anything happened to their off spring, they could tap into their reserves and escape and find safety in any way possible.

Once she placed bother servos in his hand, he began to close his own and give her a gentle squeeze of reassurance. He remembered all this form when he was a Sparkling; it was something his care givers used to always do for him whenever he became fussy or uncontrollable.

It seemed to be working, as he could see the fear melting from her dull optics, but the confusion remained on her faceplate. He knew it was to be expected, as so far she hasn't seemed to recall why she was in that escape pod or where she might have even originated from. He knew she was old enough to remember Cybertron, but he feared that maybe her memory might have been damaged in the crash. Ratchet said it was possible, but doubtful, and that she was most likely still in shock from all the excitement of the other day.

"Young Dulcet, my name is Optimus Prime" He began as he saw her look up at him with eve more confusion "This is our Outpost located on the Planet Earth, a very far travel away from Cybertron."

"P-Prime?" She asked as she began to shake a little bit in his loose grasp. He noticed this and was about to ask Ratchet over to examine her, but he never go the chance as she flung herself out of his grasp and kneeled down in front of him.

"My-my humblest apologies, my Prime" She said as she felt her optics begin to lubricate out of fear "I-I was raised better than to disrespect someone in such a powerful position. I don't want to cause any trouble for you, as I am not fit to be in the same room as someone of your status."

She was shaking harder now, as she kneeled so far in front of him that her faceplate was parallel to the floor beneath her. It was appropriate, as she was the lowest of carrier status, they were never meant to interact, let alone him try and comfort someone as pitiful as she. Punishment was certain to follow, as she braced herself for whatever physical immobility was going to meet her.

"Dulcet." She heard her designation being called, but shook her head quickly as she pressed her faceplate to the floor, she was not worthy of being in the same facility as he, let alone be allowed to look upon him.

Standard protocol states that only the elder carrier of the facility is allowed to interact with anyone of a higher caste than they found themselves in. She had no idea where the rest of her facet was located, but she would not be caught dead disrespecting someone as high as a Prime.

She flinched as she felt a large servo place itself on her shoulder, and then another on her waist. She began to whimper on top of shake as she felt herself become seemingly weightless, as the ground beneath her began to grow more and more distant. This was not what she was expecting, but she continued to hold her plating tightly to her protoform.

"Sweet spark" She heard the Prime say as she was shifted in his hold so she was being held closely to his chest with one arm, as she instinctively reached out and grabbed onto whatever piece of his plating was closest to her, the fear of her falling out of his grip very imminent as she began to whimper more and more. Oh, if her elder could see her now she would receive such an intense reprimanding-

"You are not out of line, little one." Optimus began, as he continued to emit the sound of comfort in an attempt to calm her down enough for her to listen to his words. Her shaking ceased, but he could still hear her whimpering lightly and hiccupping from the lubricant that was leaking from her optics, it was a fear response most Cybertronian carriers possessed.

"The line between Prime and citizen has been eradicated, the caste system demolished. We are on the same level" He watched as she looked up at him with a lot of confusion and hurt, as the lubricant began to cease itself for the moment. Her armor was still pressed tightly to her protoform, but he saw her give him her full attention.

"It has been this way since everyone fled from Cybertron, after everything went dark" he stated as he felt her curl into his hold. She really was very small, even for a femmeling her age.

"Not everywhere…" She said quietly as she tried to recompose herself from the fear of harsh punishment. Her processor began to numb her sensors so she would not feel so much pain, and her spark braced itself against its chamber preparing for the inevitable jostling it was going to feel from her action.

"If you wish to share than I am willing to listen, my Sweet spark." Optimus said with a simple tone. He will not force her to share information she was not willing to give, but he will let her know he is ready to listen whenever she feels the need to share any kind of information.

"My-my Facet, led by elder Dalliance, - I can't remember." She said as she could recall clearly her elder's faceplate and designation. "I know, he lead us off world after Kaon went silent." She began to strain her memory, probably more than she should, as she tried to recall what had happened after they left Cybertron.

She knows something happened, as she begins to explain remembering boarding a small ship space bound to anywhere but Cybertron and its nearby colonies. She recalled her and the rest of her facet of twenty other child rearers were aboard that ship, along with a few Autobot mercenaries who found them hold up in an old building outside of the Decepticon capitol.

She explained how they were all shoved into tiny rooms, and how the chain of command was very much alive on board the small space shuttle. She was one of the lowest and youngest of the caste, so she was last to receive energon, if any at all. She was also last priority for things like medical treatment and recharge.

Rivulets, her most dear friend and companion was second to the Elder. He always stuck up for her in any way that he could, and it angered the rest of the carriers on board. She spent most cycles cramped inside a small room or space, left until someone remembered she was there and decided to feed her or check on her fairing state.

"Then… It happened so quickly… I-I can't" she began to shake again, as she remembered something really bad happened to the small shuttle her and her facet found themselves on. She remembers feeling scared, feeling angry, feeling like she was going to die.

There is no real way to explain it, the feeling of near death, the feeling of ones spark beginning to lose itself in so much chaos and destruction that it just decides it no longer want to function the way it was designed to. The feelings of the processor begin to shut down and fall into itself as the conscious mind becomes useless in any survival situation, as basic primal instincts begin to kick in.

"Dulcet." Optimus bellowed as he saw fear and anger rise into her optics. He did not want her to push herself, and she somehow end up injured because of a process repressed memory. He has seen many good bots fall into a type of stasis loop lock, as there is nothing you can do for them except put them out of their misery.

"Please, do not strain yourself, Sweet spark. You need rest and Energon." He said as he would not allow this femmeling to fall victim to a terrible fate such as loop lock. He stood up straight and walked over to their makeshift medical bay, and gently placed her on the berth she woke up upon.

He handed her one of their luxuries none of the other bots really used, a purple blanket that had black stripes printed on it. It was one of the things that were in the base when they first moved in all those cycles ago. None of the other bots were small enough to use it, but it appears that Dulcet was just the right size to hide her underneath it.

She, without question, wrapped herself in the large piece of fabric as she had another pink colored energon cube placed in her lap. She felt her processor finally cease its onslaught of negative information, and her spark stopped jumping around in its chamber without purpose.

Safety was the word she was thinking, and it was starting to become the biggest thing she felt in the presents of the Prime.


These chapters feel rather short, but it's the best I can do right now with my carpal tunnel acting up. I am not totally sold on this chapter, but the next one should have more progression and Bumblebee.

I am just trying to hurry and push Dulcet into a sense of safety so she can finally interact with the others easier.